MASERU — Bafokeng Mohapi’s future as Bantu coach is in doubt after he missed eight of the team’s last eight games of the Vodacom Premier League because of “personal problems”. Bantu, who finished sixth in just-ended season are expected to resolve their coaching crisis before they start preparing for the next campaign. Mohapi has given […]
MASERU — The just-ended Vodacom Premier League season saw highs and lows, goals and misses. It also saw the return to local football of prodigies Dlomo Monapathi, Motlalepula Mofolo and Tefo Maipato who went on to shine for Matlama, Lioli and Bantu respectively. Living legend Lebajoa Mphongoa also returned for Nyenye Rovers albeit in […]
MASERU — All Basotho Convention (ABC) party leader Thomas Thabane (pictured) says last Saturday’s three by-elections in Hololo, Mpharane and Sebapala were not “free and fair”. The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) won by a landslide in the by-elections that were characterised by low voter turnout. A bitter Thabane alleges that a day before the […]
MASERU — The leader of the opposition Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) party, Lekhetho Rakuoane, last Friday quit parliament to focus on party business ahead of the 2012 general elections. Rakuoane has been an MP since 2002. He retained his parliamentary seat under the proportional representation (PR) system in 2007. Rakuoane will be replaced in […]
MASERU — The Law Society of Lesotho says it is surprised the High Court has dismissed its application to have the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Leaba Thetsane stripped of the title of King’s Counsel (KC) bestowed on him by the king last year. The society said it was “strange” that the court had dismissed […]
MASERU — A local pro-democracy civic group has accused the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of failing to educate its polling officers and party agents about their role ahead of last weekend’s by-elections. The Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) said the failure by the IEC to educate its officers had resulted in chaotic scenes at polling […]
MASERU — A 31-year-old police officer from Leribe allegedly shot and killed his 28-year-old wife last week following a domestic dispute, police have said. Police spokesperson Masupha Masupha said the police officer who is based in Leribe handed himself to the police after fatally shooting his wife. “He handed himself to the police on May […]
MASERU — On the day the people of Sebapala, Mpharane and Hololo were expected to cast their ballots in droves they largely stayed at home. The result was a landslide victory for the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) in elections that were marked by low voter turnout. The numbers vividly tell the story. Only […]
MASERU — Eleven star rallies in six months — that’s how aggressively the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party had campaigned in the by-elections in Hololo, Mpharane and Sebapala. On the campaign trail that began last December ABC leader Tom Thabane visited Hololo five times and was in Mpharane four times. He went to Sebapala twice. […]
MASERU — Eleven lucky First National Bank (FNB) account holders have won double tickets to watch a World Cup match in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on June 20. The lucky customers on Monday walked away with the tickets worth M1 200 each and will have the honour of watching the Slovakia versus Paraguay match in Bloemfontein. […]
MASERU — Lesotho will have to increase its production capacity significantly if it wants to boost its share of Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) revenue, a senior government official has said. Motena Ts`olo, the chief executive of economic policy in the Ministry of Finance, told the Lesotho Times that under the terms of the new […]
MASERU — Three-time champions LCS have blamed referees for the team’s worst season in a decade. For the first time in 10 years, the correctional services side has failed to make it into the top four of the Premier League. LCS lost 2-1 to LDF in their last game of the season and could only […]
MASERU — The just-ended Vodacom Premier League season saw highs and lows, goals and misses. It also saw the return to local football of prodigies Dlomo Monapathi, Motlalepula Mofolo and Tefo Maipato who went on to shine for Matlama, Lioli and Bantu respectively. Living legend Lebajoa Mphongoa also returned for Nyenye Rovers albeit in a […]
MASERU — For the first time in many years the final day of the season, Sunday, witnessed tension at both ends of the league table. At the top, it was a dog-eat-dog affair as four sides battled to join champions Matlama and second-placed Lioli in the top four. At the other end, three sides could […]
MASERU — A diplomat could find himself in trouble after he allegedly pushed and shoved a messenger of court who had come to his office to deliver a court order. Kuena Phafane, the honorary consulate for Denmark who is also the president of the Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), could now face arrest […]
MASERU — The High Court will deliver judgment tomorrow on an application in which the Law Society of Lesotho is challenging the conferment of the title of King’s Counsel (KC) on the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Leaba Thetsane. Thetsane is one of senior lawyers who were conferred with the title of King’s Counsel by […]
MASERU — A warrant of arrest has been issued for a suspected robber who skipped bail a few minutes before he was due to appear in the Maseru Magistrate’s Court last Friday. Sello Maphepa, 33, had come to court on Friday to face trial for allegedly robbing an omnibus in Ha-Abia in 2009. Just before […]
MASERU — The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) MPs together with their National Independent Party (NIP) allies on Friday rejected a motion by the opposition to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate how many foreigners have gained land unlawfully in Lesotho. The motion, tabled by the leader of the opposition Marematlou Freedom […]
MASERU — Youth Minister ’Mathabiso Lepono on Monday said the recently introduced national youth volunteer programme is above board rejecting opposition charges that the project was being run along partisan lines. Lepono said it was virtually impossible for the government to tamper with the selection process to allow members of the ruling Lesotho Congress for […]
MASERU — A pastor of a local church has been accused of being a “crook” after he allegedly refused to repay a loan he got from a daughter of one of his parishioners. Reverend Selengoane Tsikoane of the Abandoned Church is being sued by Lindiwe Morrison who alleges that he refused to repay the M14 […]
HOLOLO — A rugged road. A clinic far from the people. Villagers ravaged by HIV and Aids. Rampant unemployment. Welcome to Hololo constituency, one of the places where poverty has sunk its roots — perhaps permanently. One would have expected that this would form the crux of any candidate’s last major campaign in the constituency. […]
HOLOLO — There is something about the Hololo by-election that seems to bother the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party. To understand what’s really nagging them you have to look at how the people of Hololo voted in the 2007 general election. The ruling party romped home but with only a mere 700 votes […]
MASERU — The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has for the first time accredited 66 opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC) party activists to observe this weekend’s three by-elections. The ABC activists are among the 112 election observers who have been accredited by the IEC to observe the by-elections in Mpharane, Sebapala and Hololo constituencies this Saturday. […]
EUREKA! A paraffin spring has been discovered in Ha-Mabote. Well, that’s according to a report in last week’s Lesotho Monitor. “There has been a miracle of paraffin coming from the ground in the village of Ha-Mabote,” announced the tired tabloid in its vernacular section. ‘Mapule Maema, the owner of the field where this “miracle” is […]
MASERU — The Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC) is set to launch a website to help players in the tourism sector promote Lesotho on the international market next week. The website, which can be accessed on the address www.visitlesotho.travel, was funded through a grant from the World Bank. LTDC public relations officer Tsiu Shale said […]
MASERU — DHL Lesotho says it has invested heavily in new technologies to make shipping with the courier firm easier, faster and more convenient. In a statement to the media, DHL said it was increasingly moving towards e-business and e-commerce solutions to help customers track the movement of their goods. The company said the e-tools […]
MASERU — Premier League chairman Tlholo Letete says Lesotho is “50 percent” towards accomplishing the Mohale Declaration, a roadmap designed to turn local football professional by 2014. Letete was speaking to the Lesotho Times after the Premier League on Monday sent a progress report to Fifa regional development officer Ashford Mamelodi. Mamelodi, during a visit […]
MASERU — Lesotho is next year expected back in continental club competition after a two-year hiatus blamed on financial constraints and the lack of a venue that meets international standards. Newly crowned Vodacom Premier League champions Matlama are expected to represent the country in the CAF Champions League next year. LCS and Lioli missed out […]
MASERU — Yesteryear champions Majantja have been given a timely boost as they battle to avoid relegation from the Vodacom Premier League. The Mohale’s Hoek side — 1971 and 1995 top-flight league winners — have been awarded their abandoned match against Swallows on a 3-0 score-line. It’s the kind of motivation that Majantja needed ahead […]
A test for our democracy
IN two days’ time Basotho will once again trudge to the polls in three constituency by-elections that could serve as a litmus test for our fledgling democracy. The central characters on the country’s political stage — the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), the Basotho National Party and the All Basotho Convention (ABC) — will […]